Your Culture is a Feature
At the awareness stage, high-demand candidates want specific insights that enable an informed opt-in/opt-out. Fluffy culture stuff isn’t that.
1:15-read (+2:07 video)
Most companies are spending their time trying to sell a feature instead of effectively communicating what moves a candidate towards a conversation with one of their recruiters.
It’s the classic example of not taking the time to understand what your target market actually cares about and blindly following the “best practices” touted by the talking heads.
The result: You make it all about you.
At the awareness stage, high-demand candidates want specific insights that enable an informed opt-in/opt-out. Fluffy culture stuff isn’t that.
Once someone opts in, sell your culture. That’s when you can move them towards a different future.
(I’d argue that if you check the comp and growth boxes, a strong culture will close a candidate.)
Context:
One of the major differences between Recruiting and Sales is that most passive candidates—those that are in high demand and gainfully employed—are always in-market on some level.
Unlike product buyers who look for solutions when they have a specific need/pain, competitive candidates are always kinda open to the new products on the market (aka a better job).
The grass is always greener and comp is through the roof, so they keep their options open.
This means that those who are marketing jobs to high-demand talent can take a different approach than their counterparts who are marketing products to enterprise buyers.
Recruiting can lead with content that checks the most important boxes at the top of the funnel and convert passive onlookers into active conversations—quickly.
These are some guideposts and question prompts to direct your talent marketing content:
Compensation: What it is, how you think about it, and how it’s structured.
Question to ask:
How well do you pay compared to industry standards?
Growth opportunities: How you enable growth, upward mobility, mentorship, etc.
Questions to ask:
What kind of mentorship and coaching is available to new hires?
What does career progression look like through the [X] function and how long between steps?
Leadership mindset: How your C-level and individual function leaders think about the mission and vision of the company, and how they’re tackling a unique problem in the market.
Questions to ask:
What problems are you solving?
What challenges are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months?
What moment are you in as a team?
Product: What you make, who it’s for, what’s next, what’s hard.
Questions to ask:
What products do you deliver to customers?
What do you make, who is it for, and why do they care?
What have you already built and what's next?
Interview process: What to expect.
Questions to ask:
What is the interview process?
What do you look for when interviewing candidates?
How much do candidates need to know about your industry?